January 2021 - Ann Arbor Book Society
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January 2021
a2books.org
January Book Event Highlights
All events are virtual
Tuesday, January 5th at 7 pm: A Conversation with Erin Bartels, author of All
That We Carried, Nicola's Books
Tuesday, January 12th at 4 pm: After Hours: New Acquisitions of Manuscripts
and Rare Books, UM Library
Friday, January 15th at 10 am: The Clements Bookworm: Author
Conversation with Shana Klein, "Art, Food, and the Politics of Race in the Age
of American Expansion", UM Clements Library
Sunday, January 17th at 4 pm: Sweet Greeks: First-Generation Immigrant
Confectioners in the Heartland, a partnership between Culinary Historians of
Ann Arbor and the Ann Arbor District Library
Monday, January 25th at 7 pm: At Home with Literati: Simon Winchester,
Literati Bookstore
Click on the calendar below for more great book events taking place in
January!Ann Arbor Book Trivia Question
The owner of which former bookstore advertised their grand opening by
picketing in front of their former employer?
1. Little Professor
2. David’s Books
3. Circle Books
4. Shaman Drum
Find the answer at the bottom of the newsletter!
Slater's Books: Where Giants Rang Up Sales
by Karen Alvarez
Just south of Nickel’s Arcade at
336 South State (now home to
Bivouac) stood a bookstore that
served generations of
townspeople and university
students. Slater’s Books carried
a wide range of fiction and non-
fiction books, gifts, college
textbooks, and school supplies.
However, what really set it apart from the many bookstores that bordered
campus at the time, was its popularity among Michigan football players.
Slater’s was founded in 1916 by Myron E. Slater. He had already worked in
bookselling for several years as an assistant to his uncle, prominent localbookseller John V. Sheehan. In addition to books, pens, and stationery, his new shop offered typewriters, cameras, and photograph developing. Students flocked there every term to buy or sell back their textbooks and to buy tickets to many university social and sporting events. The store’s location near campus and relationships with faculty quickly made it one of Ann Arbor’s most successful bookstores. Its two main competitors in the 1920s were Wahr’s and Graham’s. The eminent poet Robert Frost, who lived in town during his tenure as the university’s Fellow in Letters, seems to have been a regular customer. He praised Myron Slater in a 1925 letter to a relative, later published in The Letters of Robert Frost: Slater seems to be stealing the business from the other two partly by enterprise and partly by book knowledge. He has improved the looks of his store a lot. He gets hold of the professors by giving them all 20% discount. They return the favor by keeping him ahead of their assignments for classes. I like him pretty well. Myron retired in 1929 and handed the store to his young nephew and assistant, Marvin J. Slater. Marvin immediately set out to grow the business by buying out competitor Charles Graham, expanding the shop’s floor space, and incorporating the business with a new board of directors. Tragically, Marvin died just one year later after a short illness, leaving behind his 25-year-old wife, Florence, and their baby daughter. Florence Schaller Slater probably had never expected to become a widow and a business owner at such a young age. Like her husband, she came from an Ann Arbor bookselling family, the daughter of bookstore owner Martin Schaller. A Michigan class of 1926 graduate and an avid sports fan, she became a friend and mother figure to many student athletes. She employed many of them in addition to the ten full-time store employees. Football star and Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon worked at Slater’s during college in the late 1930s. He reminisced about those days in his memoir Pilots Also Pray:
One of the landmarks of Ann Arbor is a college bookstore run by Florence
Slater. To the athletes at the University Mrs. Slater is a guiding spirit throughout
their years at school. Her friendship and encouragement were among the main
reasons I stuck it out when I was just about ready to throw in the towel.
At the beginning of every term, Slater's
Bookstore is always jammed with students
getting set with textbooks for the
semester's work. The boys behind the
counters handing out those heavy tomes
are mainly boys from the different teams. It
was always a strange sight to walk into
Slater's during or shortly after registration
and see a bunch of clerks whose towering
size made them look like men from Mars. Just picture one of those giants
handing down, all the way down to some pint-sized coed, something or other
like the History of Ancient Greece or an anthology of modern French poetry!
You could have thought the Michigan teams were the most literary teams in the
world. Anyway, Slater's became the hangout of our team.
Slater’s remained a favorite of students and townspeople alike over the next
thirty years. The store donated trophies
and other prizes for inter-fraternity sports
championships. Longtime store manager
Russell O’Brien led an alumni baseball
team called Slater’s Sluggers. Inside at
336 S. State, the travel and children’s
books sections were expanded and heavily
promoted during the holiday shopping
seasons.
Slater’s eventually closed in 1972 after 56 years in business. At the time it was
Ann Arbor’s second oldest bookstore after Wahr’s, which closed that same
year. Florence Slater remained in Ann Arbor for the rest of her life, staying
active in the community and keeping in touch with old football friends.
Noteworthy New ReleasesCongratulations to the AADL for
being rated a five star library by The Ann Arbor Book Society is truly
Library Journal for the 13th year in a grateful to our subscribers for taking
row! The Ann Arbor District Library time out of your busy lives to read
has received this designation our monthly newsletter. We value
annually since Library Journal the opportunity to share with you
some book history of our great city,created its American Star Libraries and the many wonderful ways that
rating in 2008. books continue to be an integral part
of what makes Ann Arbor special.
May 2021 bring you joy, love, and
good health.
Happy New Year!
Snapshot of the Past
Caption: Jim Carlson, manager of Logos Bookstore, January, 1972. Courtesy of AADL.
Ann Arbor Book Trivia Answer
Answer: David Kozubei opened David’s Books in the summer of 1974 and
picketed Borders as part of the grand opening of his bookstore located at 529
E. Liberty St. He picketed to advertise a 25% off sale shortly after Borders
introduced a 20% off policy. Originally from London, Kozubei moved to AnnArbor in 1968 and worked at many of Ann Arbor's bookstores before opening
his own, including Centicore, University Cellar, Ulrich's, Logos, and Ned's in
Ypsilanti.
Copyright © 2020 Ann Arbor Book Society, All rights reserved.
Our mailing address is:
Ann Arbor Book Society
P.O. 7176
Ann Arbor, MI 48107
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